Mixed feelings about new lens

[jjeling]

F8, sorry Ive missed this post. I am all about Pentax and what they really offer compared to their competition(Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus). There are many advantages to owning a Pentax camera. It is well known that their current selection of glass is nothing to be happy about. http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/index.php <-- That is a link to a review of all Pentax's glass, old and new. Its a great way to see what other Pentax users have to say about the glass they've purchased. Understand it might be biased towards the lenses, but mostly honest opinions.

Myself, Ive been looking at buying the f4 DA* 300mm. It was going to be for an opportunity at work, so Ive justified the money for it, even at $1000 US. Not only would it be a great wildlife lens, but also sports great for many other things. After a little practice, a 300mm is not what I need for this. I started looking at 2.8 200mm, $1300! Ok, so their weather sealed primes...
Sigma 2.8 70-200mm, under $800. The reviews on the Pentax site commented that it is on par with the 200mm prime lenses * from Pentax. Depending on the situation, it sometimes fun to try and look for older 35mm Pentax lenses. They can usually be had for slightly less, but require manual focus and use of aperture ring. It is a bit of a challenge but if you can manage its a great way to stay with Pentax. If you really need weather sealed lenses, then the extra price is really worth it. I would love to know what the price of a Canon/Nikon weather sealed unit with a f2.8 300mm or even a f4 300mm lens.

In my opinion, Pentax offers some things that the competition hasn't or has at a very high price. They are highly underated by having a poor selection of glass. Everyone knows Pentax glass and its quality, but the majority of the are not built for the digital era. When the digital revolution came through, Pentax did not focus on the new lens production, instead it was the camera body. As long as the body maintained the same mount, the old lenses work. Canon and Nikon were swift to build digital lenses. Could you imagine what it would be like if Pentax had the same brand recognition as Canon or Nikon now? Probably not, but thats the best part, Pentax is the Richard Petty of Nascar. The name lives on! The greatest have to die someday. Pentax is far from dead, but the bodies of Pentax show their determination to one day step ahead again. Once Pentax does catch up in lens selection, how could you not want a weather sealed camera that will capture up to 24 frames per second for as low as Pentax offers it.

I forgot what I was responding to when I started writing this. My apologies as well. Hopefully that helps as another Pentax user. If I remember any more of what I was trying to say Ill add more, or clear anything you might not understand.

[F8&Bthere]

Thanks for the response JJ. I have some older glass- a SMC-M 50/1.4, a SMC-A 35-70/3.5-4.5 (was a kit lens in it's time), and the SMC-A 70-210/4. And you're right there's some great deals still on that old glass, and it can be pretty good. I have actually posted reviews at pentaxforums for a couple of my lenses.

If you are thinking of any Pentax lenses in the near future you might want to research the market because I don't know about USA but Canada just got slammed with some insane price hikes. Some lenses almost doubled in price, others went up by about 50%. I am wondering if the same thing will happen there.

Pentax may have a weak lineup of lenses but given that their bodies accept all the old K mount lenses stretching back decades, it makes the selection pretty large and affordable if one is open to manual focus and buying used on ebay or whatever. But I think even their current line is pretty unique with the Ltd lenses and the pancake lenses. It's just too bad they had to make such a huge leap in price so suddenly.

[casil403]

Like everything F8 we all wish we had 20/20 hindsight. Being a newbie, I don't know much about glass ( a wide angle will probably be next on the lens list tho) so I am hesitant to comment here but I know about the price hikes in other areas and they have been pretty steep of late...especially when shopping online. I know when they were down, I got some good deals then as I'm sure many did but like Kat money is also an issue these days over here (and will be for the next couple of years while I work on changing careers) so for me, if I have the extra bucks I treat myself no matter what it costs.

[jjeling]

I agree with you F8. Their lineup is pretty unique and really do offer everything that everyone else does, but nothing is perfect and there is still much to be desired in their lenses.

The bodies are a completely different story. Compared to the bodies of the competition, I believe Pentax has the best to offer hands down.